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Family Who Kept 56 Dogs Banned From Keeping Pets After RSPCA Raid (PICTURES)

PA  |  Posted: 19/04/2012 14:07 Updated: 19/04/2012 15:39   PA

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The family were said to be living amid a "sea of dogs"

A husband and wife with five children who kept 56 large dogs as family pets in their four-bedroom semi-detached home were today banned from keeping animals for eight years.

When the RSPCA raided the house where James and Nicola Hood lived with their young family they were "swamped by a sea of dogs" in the living room and "too many to count" in the back garden.

In addition to 56 dogs, including huskies, German shepherds, rottweilers and Staffordshire bull terriers, they also found three cats living in the bathroom, six birds, including love birds in various dirty cages, and four chinchillas.

They also found one of the couple's children, just nine-months-old, in a bed whose sheets were soiled with bird droppings, the court heard.

At an earlier hearing Hood, 40, and his 32-year-old wife admitted nine animal cruelty charges relating to animals kept at their home in Queen's Road, Minehead, Somerset.

The pair returned to Taunton Magistrates' Court today to be sentenced.

Keith Parks, chairman of the bench, told the couple: "We find these offences fall within the second bracket of the guidelines with a starting point of a high level community order.

"Taking into account your early guilty pleas, your lack of previous convictions and your inability to comply with a community order, we are imposing a conditional discharge for 24 months.

"In recognising the seriousness of the offences and the number of animals involved we are disqualifying you from owning or keeping any animal for the next eight years."

Magistrates also ordered the pair to pay £250 each towards the RSPCA's costs at £5 each a week.

See below for pictures of the family's home

Family Kept 56 Dogs
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A husband and wife with five children who kept 56 large dogs as family pets in their four-bedroom semi-detached home were today banned from keeping animals for eight years. When the RSPCA raided th...
A husband and wife with five children who kept 56 large dogs as family pets in their four-bedroom semi-detached home were today banned from keeping animals for eight years. When the RSPCA raided th...
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musokkat
33 Fans
11:02 AM on 04/23/2012
I'm amazed that nobody seems to have gone to their council's environmental health department, on grounds of noise, smell, and insanitary conditions leading to public nuisance.
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dsole1948
159 Fans
09:02 PM on 04/19/2012
I’ve read it, looked at the pictures there’s nothing to say how well or bad the animals were looked after, feeding must have been like painting the forth bridge. Not only that but cleaning up after them had to be a major undertaking, disposal of the solids and cleaning or not of the liquid discharges must have been a colossal bio hazard.

The problems as I see it, the stress of the confined areas and close proximity of the other animals, tensions depending on the sex of those with in the croup and any sterilisation. I doubt with that many animals that they could separate or sterilise any of them which would have led to many a conflict amongst the males.

The cruelty comes from the lack of space, much akin to being on the underground in rush hour, but for the animals that would be 24/7. Any woman will tell you what that’s like, for the males it will be about aggression and area domination. Just picture being in the cupboard under the stairs with twenty other people with the door shut for an hour, the cruelty becomes more obvious.

So what took the authorities so long to control such an abuse, how did they allow it to get so out of hand? I am not a lover of the RSPCA I found them to be slow in responding, that is unless the TV cameras are there, called them two years ago still waiting, sorted it myself.
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bbqfudge
6 Fans
07:52 PM on 04/19/2012
Well thats the animal problem taken care of, where are social services?!? A 9 month old baby sleeping in sheets covered in bird poo??
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Makalha
Opinions are not facts.
110 Fans
07:38 PM on 04/19/2012
Why an inability to comply with a community order ? I also would like to know more about the childrens condition. If they can only afford to pay £5 a week towards the RSPCAs costs how on earth did they feed all those pets ?
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roseandpeony
47 Fans
07:20 PM on 04/19/2012
Glad they are not my neighbours!
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SwissRon
16 Fans
06:48 PM on 04/19/2012
Some people are just not normal.
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Philduck
32 Fans
06:23 PM on 04/19/2012
Apparently one of the dogs was asked about living conditions on the premises. He replied. "Ruff"
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
06:02 PM on 04/19/2012
No mention of the welfare of the young children. I cannot begin to conceive the health risks these kids were potentially exposed to with so many animals in or on the property. The bird droppings alone could lead to the death of the child. I can't understand why the neighbours put up with it for so long, it must have been disruptive, imagine just 10% of the dogs barking at the same time, think of the smell from the garden where almost 60 dogs are doing their biz! Paradoxically the animals do appear healthy and, dare I say, groomed. It's the lack of any mention of the children that worries me though; were social services involved? It doesn't say.
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olgapoloski1
1 Fans
05:50 PM on 04/19/2012
It must cost them a fortune to feed these lovely dogs !!
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zak dobermann
37 Fans
07:02 PM on 04/19/2012
Thats why they can only repay at £5.00 p/w!!!
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lucylocket
19 Fans
04:27 PM on 04/19/2012
Where did they get all those dogs in the first place - or did they just breed? It's inconceivable that people should have so many pets in a normal family home.

Ironically, looking at the pictures, the dogs don't look in bad condition. However photographs can deceive. It is going to be difficult to find homes for that amount of dogs.
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olgapoloski1
1 Fans
05:44 PM on 04/19/2012
yes I agree, they look fine. Perhaps they thought they were saving them ! What will become of the dogs now ? Hope they wont be put down if not re homed !!
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lucylocket
19 Fans
05:49 PM on 04/19/2012
I hope so too. Perhaps one of these animal shelters will take them until they are found a good home.

The trouble with the rescue centres, there is a limit to how many dogs they can take.
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janno000
60 Fans
06:04 PM on 04/19/2012
the dogs do look healthy enough, but poor neighbours. The smell and noise must have been horrendous.
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michellehowells
3 Fans
11:15 AM on 04/20/2012
Most of them will probably be put down!!
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Southern law girl
Researching my viewpoint....
161 Fans
04:17 PM on 04/19/2012
Dreadful state of affairs, how ever could they possibly argue the dogs were looked after properly. As someone else said, other family members could try to plead any future pet is theirs, with a bit of luck and a fair wind, that may prove difficult if there is a Court Order because that Court Order would flag up the address, the Authorities should see through that, I said should see through it!!!!
:-))
To break a Court Order is contempt of Court, which if broken carries serious ramifications.
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mfa11e
Tell the truth ,regardless
196 Fans
04:08 PM on 04/19/2012
Do they work? What was the weekly food bill for the animals.Obviously a mental problem
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thereiver
49 Fans
03:51 PM on 04/19/2012
with 5 kids this ban is meaningless. i have known of people banned from keeping animals due to cruelty. their family members then get new animals which they state are theirs, an RSPCA inspector told me it happens all the time. they just have to wait for more cruelty then charge the new owner. it is time the ban was for the person and any property they own. But apparently that would impede on the others Human rights.
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